EU Extends Levy on Chinese Stainless-Steel Screws to Philippines

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union extended to the
Philippines a tariff on stainless-steel screws and bolts from
China, saying Chinese exporters used the country to evade the
levy meant to aid EU producers like Italy’s Bontempi Vibo SpA.

The EU said Chinese exporters of stainless-steel fasteners
shipped them to Europe via the Philippines to dodge the 27.4
percent duty. This is the outcome of a probe that also covered
Malaysia and Thailand, where the EU concluded that no Chinese
circumvention took place.

The import tax “was circumvented by trans-shipment via the
Philippines,” the 27-nation bloc said in a decision today in
Brussels. The extension exempts two Philippine companies --
Multi-Tek Fasteners Inc. and Rosario Fasteners Corp. -- and will
take effect after publication in the EU’s Official Journal
within a week.

The EU renewed the trade protection against China in
January 2012 for another five years to help European producers
that also include Bulnava Srl of Italy, Germany’s Reisser
Schraubentechnik GmbH and France’s Ugivis SA counter below-cost,
or “dumped,” imports from the Asian country. The 27.4 percent
levy is the maximum of three rates, which depend on the Chinese
exporter. The lowest levy is 11.4 percent.

At the time, the EU also reimposed for five years anti-dumping duties as high as 23.6 percent on stainless-steel
fasteners from Taiwan.

The extension of the maximum levy against China to the
Philippines is the outcome of a circumvention probe that the EU
began last June and will apply retroactively to imports as of
that time, when the bloc also began to register shipments of
stainless-steel fasteners from the Philippines.